Comparing the agencies of the ESG rating landscape: a tailor-made recommendation to D’Ieteren Group.

In the context of the growing importance of ESG issues and therefore of companies being recognised for their performances, non-financial ratings are becoming increasingly meaningful. For this reason, D'Ieteren has requested me, as part of my internship, to carry out a comparative study of the various players in the world of the ESG rating agencies, in order to find out which ones is most appropriate to engage with. Therefore, in this thesis, I address the research question “How can the agencies of the ESG rating landscape be compared, and accordingly which approach should D’Ieteren consider based on its needs and ambitions?”. Through the literature review and an analysis of the ratings market, we are able to understand the role of each of these agencies and how they could meet D'Ieteren's needs as well as which specific aspects are most important to consider. After a good understanding of the company's ambitions, interviews are also conducted with some contacts in these rating agencies in order to gain a better understanding of the offer and to be able to compare them on the basis of a roadmap. This leads to recommend to D’Ieteren to actively engage with the rating agency Sustainalytics and its ESG risk rating, as well as to carefully consider the MSCI’s rating which can be valuable for any rated company. This recommendation is of course appropriated to the situation of this particular company and should evolve over time, given the recent development of this concept.